Woah!

I had no clue I was on the weather channel. It's true, the camera does add 20 lbs. :)



20 miles tonight at a mild pace, will start turning up the intensity next week!

Bike journal is no longer blank!

Wednesday 3/12 for hill repeats and yesterday was a super fun Sunday morning ride of just over 25 miles with the gang from Cycle to Fitness. We rolled out on Hines, looped through Northville via the five mile road hill and down Sheldon to seven mile.

I'm starting to feel like a slacker though, we had a young guy show up on a mountian bike with a slick on the front that proceeded to keep up with the damn pace line. Granted we were only rolling at 17.5 to 18 MPH, but he hung tough with the front chain ring stuck in the middle and was just spinning away.

Cargo shorts, check. Tennis shoes, check. No front dérailleur, check. Keeping up with the mild pace roadies, no problem. That guy was impressive, hopefully he buys a road bike and we can get him on the Greyhounds.

What the ride told me is that I need to get back on the stick, charging up the five mile hill took more effort than I remember from last year. I expect part of it to come back quickly, but I can't wait for those super long base building rides that I need a few of right now.

I rode!

My first outside ride since getting hit by a car on November 13th of 2007. Sure it was only a mile back to my house from the mechanics doing an alignment on my car, but it was a ride none the less.

Everything is melting in Southeastern Michigan right now and the temps are perfect, unfortunately the big puddles of water make speed undesirable so I took it easy to keep dry. I'm so excited, the outdoor rides will begin on a much more regular basis in just a couple weeks!

The shoulder

Beware of the pics, contents potentially graphic, don't enlarge if you don't like blood. :)

So far today I'm in awe at my progress after the surgery on Thursday.

Yesterday DPG and I removed the bandages and pulled the 6" long tube from the pain pump out, fascinating as I was expecting to feel all kinds of tugging and weirdness when it was removed, but there was absolutely no trace of it at all as it just glided right out.

First, the bandages:













Next, the removal:













Pain pump entry:













Pain pump tube:













Right now I can't really lift heavy object high at all, but I can roll over on the shoulder and my range of motion is coming back quickly. I can lift my arm to a 90 degree angle with minimal pain. To express my delight I showed DPG I could do the chicken dance with my new healthy shoulder, some how she was not very impressed. ;)